Canada keeps trying to regulate its way out of a housing shortage. Argentina tried something else, and the rental market improved

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Housing availability in Canada has reached crisis levels. In Vancouver, the average two-bedroom apartment rents for $3,170 monthly. In Toronto, it’s $2,690. By October 2024, Toronto counted more than 15,400 homeless individuals, double the figure from 2021. Vancouver’s streets tell a similar story of policy failure.

Yet despite decades of government intervention through rent controls and affordability programs, the crisis deepens year after year.

Meanwhile, Argentina achieved something remarkable. After repealing rent control in December 2023, rental supply surged by more than 200 per cent within 18 months, while real prices fell approximately 40 per cent. The contrast offers vital lessons for Canadian policymakers.

Much of Canada’s response to housing unaffordability has centred on price controls rather than expanding supply. Ontario caps annual rent increases at 2.5 per cent for units built before November 2018. British Columbia froze rents entirely in 2020 and 2021, then allowed increases of just 1.5 per cent in 2022 and two per cent in 2023, well below inflation, which exceeded six per cent.

Argentina repealed rent control and supply exploded. Canada........

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